HeroQuest TV advert

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Ok here's a little bit of HeroQuest nostalgia for you ... actually I guess most things about HeroQuest are nostalgia, it's been 20 years since it first came out!
anyway here's the TV advert for HeroQuest that was shown in the UK in the early 90's.
I have vague memories of this advert and the Space Crusade advert being on (probably during Knightmare, which would probably have been the best time to show it)



A few things to note about the advert (I'll add some stills from the video later):

First and most obviously of all, the kids in the advert are acting and not really playing the game at all, more worryingly the narrator doesn't seem to know quite what he's on about either and I'm not entirely sure what he says makes sense.

"Deep inside another dimension, face battling barbarians and evil magic on a quest for adventure in a maze of monsters" - that's not quite what the game is about now is it?

The game components shown in the advert  are not from the finished game, but in fact prototype components.
The artwork on the cards is in colour (I can't quite make out the text, but the wording of the Fire of Wrath spell is different too)
The symbols on the dice have a slightly different design and the miniatures are the metal prototypes painted in the colour their finished plastic counterpart would end up being. (note the round bases and the white rats).
The artwork on the board and card components of the furniture is also different (check out the face on the back of the throne)
the information on the inside of the GM's screen is presented in an entirely different format (it looks like 8 cards on a dark background)

Note that you can see more of the prototype HeroQuest components in the preview in WD115, which also gives you a glimpse of the prototype AHQ components too!

Also about 9 second in we see a door open and a crow flies out of the room, is it just me or does the Orc in that room appear to be pole-dancing?

hmm it appears that once you get into HeroQuest you truly never are the same again ...

[Madame M]

Isn't the narrator Christopher Lee?

He seems to get everywhere! Still, his voice is perfect for the advert, and if it is him it probably explains why he doesn't know what's going on. He just got given a script and had to read it.

Very vague memories of this, though I may just be suffering with instant deja vu.

And that is not how you pole dance. At least, it's not how I was taught. But then I suppose Orcs would do it differently...

[Apocalypsedreamer]

I'm scared!  it seems all the kids in adverts from the past are very scary (space crusade uuhg) though when the kid that turns into the orc/goblin/hobgoblin adds a piece of reality ).

A very disturbed dreamer

[Marchomer]

I knew this advert! It never arrived in Italy not even the Space Crusade one (a little curiosity, in Italy it was named StarQuest).  

MortiS-the-Lost wrote

The artwork on the cards is in colour (I can't quite make out the text, but the wording of the Fire of Wrath spell is different too)

I'm sure the card in Fire of Wrath says:
"This spell may be cast on any object or Door in he same Room or Passage. The object and anything in it will then be destroyed. The spell may not be cast on Monsters or Players."

This thing finally explains what means the picture in the card!
I read an interview with Stephen Baker (the father of HeroQuest) said that the first version of the game was quite different and more difficult (maybe more complete) than the official one, I ask myself what kind of differences there are between the alpha and the gold version... this is a lost (and maybe forbidden) knowledge!

MortiS-the-Lost wrote

Also about 9 second in we see a door open and a crow flies out of the room, is it just me or does the Orc in that room appear to be pole-dancing?

It's true! LOL!  (At least for an orc dancer, like Madame M said!)

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Marchomer wrote

I knew this advert! It never arrived in Italy not even the Space Crusade one (a little curiosity, in Italy it was named StarQuest).  

Yes, because of the popularity of HeroQuest in Europe, the  European releases of Space Crusade were named StarQuest so that it would be more closely associated with  HeroQuest. Interestingly the German version of StarQuest was heavily censored and didn't use the Warhammer 40,000 setting as it was deemed too violent for the game's intended age group

Marchomer wrote

I'm sure the card in Fire of Wrath says:
"This spell may be cast on any object or Door in he same Room or Passage. The object and anything in it will then be destroyed. The spell may not be cast on Monsters or Players."

This thing finally explains what means the picture in the card!
I read an interview with Stephen Baker (the father of HeroQuest) said that the first version of the game was quite different and more difficult (maybe more complete) than the official one, I ask myself what kind of differences there are between the alpha and the gold version... this is a lost (and maybe forbidden) knowledge!

yea it's often struck me that HeroQuest was cut-down and simplified prior to release (I assume by MB to make it more suitable for a 'mainstream' audience). All monsters in the UK and European releases having only 1 Body Point seems to be evidence of this, making combat a lot easier for the Heroes meaning less strategy and cooperation is required on the players part.
The change of the rules on the Fire of Wrath card implies the Furniture was destructible in earlier versions and the Heroes may have been required to break down Doors, further suggesting that some doors might have been locked or jammed in certain quests. (this is quite in keeping with some of my house rules, so I'm tempted to change the rules for Fire of Wrath back to this version)

I too would be interested in seeing early draught of the HeroQuest to see how much they changed before release.

Stephen Baker clearly had greater ambitions for HeroQuest as a gaming system, much of which you can see in his more recent game HeroScape

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Madame M wrote

Isn't the narrator Christopher Lee?

It certainly sounds like him, but I can't confirm whether is really is or is not him.
I also fancy that it might have been Hugo Myatt's voice, but I think that might be wishful thinking brought about by the advert's visual similarity to Knightmare

[General Biakal]

Shame all the kids are cockneys!

"turn it in, ahhhh'y'l fahhhkin do dat goblin cant wiv me bwoardsword innit, do what?"

there was some money thrown at the advert tho eh? it looked pretty good for the age of it.

[Billiam Babble]

Excellent find!

Did I see some normal dice in there?

I want a board that looks like the set.

Did you notice the way they "play" the cards, as if the broadsword or spell is some sort of secret hand dealt to defy the games master?  Methinks that the director probably didn't have a clue what the game was...

Silly hair-gelled kids.
Pole-dancing Midget Orcs!  

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Billiam Babble wrote

Did I see some normal dice in there?

yes in Heroquest 2D6 is used for movement and D6s are sometimes rolled for other purposes in the expansions

 

Billiam Babble wrote

I want a board that looks like the set.

then you'll be very pleased to see what I've been doing with your thin walls
(eMail on it's way soon, I hope!)